Wrench attaching and retaining clip



Sept. 11, 1951 w. J. ROZMUS 2,567,352

WRENCH ATTACHING AND RETAINING CLIP Filed March 24, 1950 Walter J. Rozmus Patented Sept. 11 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WRENCH ATTACHING AND RETAINING CLIP Walter J. Rozmus, Utica, N. Y. Application March 24, 1950, Serial No. 151,607

3 Claims. (Cl. 81-425) The present invention relates to ways and means whereby the head of a hand wrench may be held against accidental displacement from the head of a bolt and has more particular reference to a simple and practical wrench attaching and retaining clip.

It is a matter of common knowledge that a mechanic is frequently called upon, when removing a nut from a bolt, to employ two tools simultaneously. In most instances, he will catch Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional bolt, conventional wrench and the improved clip-.

hold of the bolt head with a .pair of pliers, holding the pliers in one hand, and will apply a wrench to the nut, using, of course, the other hand. Where, however, the nut is tightly lodged on the shank of the bolt, the bolt will turn in conjunction with the nut, despite all efforts to resist such action by more tightly grasping and squeezing the pliers. For this reason, many mechanicsuse two wrenches. Often, however, the wrench which is applied to the head of the bolt will slip off in an axial direction and so it is often necessary to call upon a helper to hold the wrench on the bolt head, thus to involve the ever important factors of time and expense.

The present invention has to do with a highly practical, easy-to-use device which will temporarily, but effectively, mount and retain the head of the wrench on the head of a bolt in order that the user may hold the latter wrench fixed with one hand and then put himself in a satisfactory position to catch hold and turn the nut'with a second wrench operated in the remaining hand.

Briefly summarized, the retainer which is employed is characterized by a washer which is adapted to'encircle the head of the bolt, said washer being provided on a marginal edge portion with a lateral resilient tang, said tang terminating at its free end in a detent which is spring-pressed into releasable engagement with the peripheral portion of the head of the wrench. By providing a knife-like edge on the inner peripheral edge of the washer, the tension of the tang causes said knife-like edge, which then functions like a dog, to ride and dig into the head of the bolt, whereby to thus separably couple the head of the wrench to the head of the bolt.

Other objects and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views:

type retainer which constitutes the subject matter of the instant case;

Figure 2 is a view in section and elevation taken on the irregular line 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the retainer clip per se; and

Figure 4 is a cross-section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows. Referring now to the drawings by way of reference numerals and accompanying lead lines and with reference to Figure 2 it will beseen that the bolt is denoted by the numeral 6 and comprises a polygonal or equivalent head 8 and screw-threaded shank Ill. The wrench, which like the bolt is conventional, is denoted by the numeral I 2 and comprises a lever-like handle I4 and an offset ring-like bolt engaging head 56.

The retainer clip, which takes the form of a so-called attachment, is denoted by the numeral l8. It comprises a ring or washer 20 having an inner peripheral edge 22 defining an opening for head 8 and an outer peripheral edge 26. A limited sector of the inner peripheral edge is beveled and sharpened to knife-like dimensions as at 24 to provide a dog which, in practice, is adapted to slightly embed itself in the coasting peripheral surface of the bolt head 8 as brought out in Figure 2. The lateral resilient tang is denoted at 28. The tang is joined by a bend 30 to the peripheral edge 26 and is canted toward the edge 22. It terminates in a cam-like reverse bend 32 defining a latch-like detent 34.

In practice, the opening in the washer will be of a diameter larger than the outside diameter of the bolt head and assuming that the bolt is passing through a work-piece 36 as shown in Figure 2, the washer may be slipped or fitted over the head 8 of the bolt 6 and brought into contact with the work-piece. Then the head I6 of the wrench may be fitted over the bolt head and one edge sprung or forced against the cam-like detent whereupon the latter will snap into place and engage over the head 16 as shown in the drawings. The spring tension of the tang will thus cause the knife-edge 24 to ride from right to left in the direction of the arrow A whereby said edge will embed itself in the head of the bolt. In this way the head of the wrench will be temporarily but sufliciently latched or retained in place on the head 8 of the bolt. It is, of course, possible to attach the clip [8 to the head of the wrench and to simultaneously fit the two units over the head 8 of the bolt. In any event, the object of the invention is to utilize the latching and tensionin properties of the tang to hold the two heads together and to avoid accidental displacement of the wrench on the bolt and to thus make it possible for the user to employ two wrenches in accomplishing the job of readily removing a stubborn nut.

A careful consideration of the foregoing description in conjunction with the invention as illustrated in the drawing will enable the reader to obtain a clear understanding and impression of the alleged features of merit-and novelty sufficient to clarify the construction of the. invention as hereinafter claimed.

Minor changes in shape, size, materials and.

rearrangement of parts may be resorted to in actual practice so long as no departure is made from the invention as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1; A retainer for temporarily securing thehead of a wrench to the head of a bolt comprising a flat rigid endless rin having a portion of its inner peripheral edge formed with a knife-like portion to gouge into a bolt head, and resilient means carried by said ring whereby the latter may be releasably latched on the head portion of a hand wrench.

2. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein said means is an inbent resilient tang secured to the outer peripheral edge of said ring, the free end of said tang being provided with a hook-like detent.

3. A wrench attaching and retaining clip comprising a washer having flat top and bottom surfaces and having an opening which is adapted to encircle the head of a bolt, said opening being of a diameter greater than the diameter of the usual bolt head accommodating opening in the head of a wrench with which said washer is to be associated, the outside diameter of saidv washer being likewise greater than the outside diameter of said wrench head, an inner peripheral edge portion of said washer being formed with a knife-like portion to gouge into said bolt head, and a resilient tang secured to the outer peripheral edge of said-ring.,said tang being disposed diametrically opposite to said knife-like portion, being bent in wardly' from the outer peripheral edge toward the, inner: peripheral edge, the free end of said tang being provided with a detent which is adapted to be releasably latched on the head of said wrench.

WALTER J. ROZMUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of, this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 342,197 Flanders May 18, 1886 642,129 Karsner Jan. 30, 1900 898 657 Kimball Sept. 15, 1908 909,514 Atkins Jan. 12, 1909 

